HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Pennsylvania Turnpike officials say the entire toll road system, including the sections that roll through urban areas, may get a speed limit boost to 70 mph next year.

Penndot and Pennsylvania Turnpike officials held an event to commemorate the new 70-mph speed limit in effect for most of a nearly 100-mile stretch of the toll road, from Morgantown to west of Harrisburg (see related story).

And if all goes well, most of the rest of the turnpike system will get the new speed limit next year.

But in urban areas, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation secretary Barry Schoch says, other interstates are not candidates for the higher speeds.

“They don’t have the same issues we do -– I say ‘we’ meaning Penndot — with the close spacing of interchanges and some of the outdated geometrics that our system has,” Schoch said today.

But in less populated areas, it’s a different story. On August 11th, the 70-mph speed limit will be coming to stretches of two interstates, including 88 miles of Interstate 80 in the central part of the state, and 21 miles of I-380 in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Tony Romeo is Harrisburg bureau chief for KYW Newsradio 1060.
Born and raised in the Harrisburg area, Romeo began his professional career at age 18, while in college at Penn State Harrisburg. He was still a college student when ...